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Effect of off-target verbosity on communication efficiency in a referential communication task
T Y Arbuckle1, M Nohara-LeClair, D Pushkar
1Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. arbmaag@vax2.concordia.ca
Psychology and Aging
|February 7, 2001
Summary
High off-target verbosity (OTV) impairs communication efficiency and inhibitory control in older adults. Excessive speech, lacking focus, negatively impacts conveying nonautobiographical information, but does not involve personal intrusions.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Background:
- Off-target verbosity (OTV), characterized by excessive and unfocused speech, is a phenomenon observed in aging populations.
- Understanding the impact of OTV on communication is crucial for cognitive and pragmatic theories of aging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether high off-target verbosity (OTV) negatively affects the communication of nonautobiographical information.
- To examine the relationship between OTV, communication efficiency, and inhibitory control in older adults.
Main Methods:
- A referential communication task was employed, involving a director describing abstract figures to a matcher.
- Participants included 455 adults aged 63-93, screened for OTV.
- Directors were selected from the top and bottom 15% (high OTV) and the middle 50% (average OTV) of OTV scores.
Main Results:
- Directors with high OTV demonstrated reduced communication efficiency in describing abstract figures.
- High OTV directors exhibited poorer inhibitory control compared to average OTV directors.
- High OTV did not correlate with the intrusion of personal information into speech.
Conclusions:
- High off-target verbosity negatively impacts the efficiency of conveying information and is associated with deficits in inhibitory control in older adults.
- Findings provide insights into the inhibitory deficit and pragmatic change explanations of OTV in aging.